Ashes hero live

Only one Englishman has ever scored more runs in an Ashes series than Alastair Cook. During his record-breaking 36 hours at the crease in Australia he piled up a massive 766 runs, averaging over 120 an innings.

Yet at the start of the series, Cook’s place was being questioned after he struggled against Pakistan in the summer. However, those that stood by him have been rewarded, as Cook is now ‘Man of the Series’, anchoring England to their 3-1 series win.

Despite only being 26, he has already scored 5,000 Test runs and is the second youngest ever in the world to do so after India’s legendary Sachin Tendulkar. With his 235 not out in Brisbane, 148 in Adelaide and 189 in last week’s series clinching victory in Sydney, he has now scored 16 Test hundreds.

Thanks to Buxton, official mineral water of the England team, Alastair Cook joins us live online on Friday 14th January at 16:00 to tell us how good an Ashes win tastes and to answer your questions.

H: On today’s show, I’ll be chatting with Ashes Man of the Series and cricketing superstar, Alastair Cook, so don’t go anywhere

Credits

H: Hello and welcome to Sport Talk, brought to you today by Buxton Natural Mineral Water. I’m Ashley House. Now despite only being 26 years old, Alastair Cook has already scored over 5000 test runs, and is the 2nd youngest player ever to do so, after India’s legendary Sachin Tendiulkar. With 3 huge centuries this Ashes series; 235 not out in Brisbane, 148 in Adelaide, and 189 in Sydney, Alastair’s now scored 16 test 100’s, without question he’s one of the world’s best batsman. Ali thanks so much for coming into the studio. Looking forward to chatting with you in a little while. Just before we do, let me tell you what we’ve got coming up on the show today. We’re going to be discussing England’s extraordinary Ashes victory, we’ll be looking at just how Alastair Cook keeps fit and healthy and all of your questions will be answered live on the show. Now don’t forget, this is live today, so if you do have any questions or comments for Alastair, please use the box on your screen and click send. If you’re tweeting whilst watching the show, then use the #questions4cook, with the number 4, not the word. Alastair, let’s get going. It’s been an extraordinary few weeks. 36 hours at the crease for you, an average of over a 120, 766 runs and of course a 3-1 win for England. Was there any part of you that hoped or dreamed that it would be that good before the series started?

A: No. I thought we could go and win. It was very close balance when we left, but to play as convincing cricket as we did, pretty much throughout the whole tour, we had obviously a blip in Perth but…from the moment we stepped to the plate, we had a game plan and we stuck to it really well. We were lucky that people were in form at the right time, pretty much the whole squad was in really good shape and obviously that really helps.

H: How does that differ then from the series 4 years ago, with the 5-0 drubbing and of course, your own form over the summer which everyone knows wasn’t so hot. What changes? What was the difference?

A: I think its different sides and I think against Australia last time we were a side in transition. A little bit of the flux of the new captain and players that didn’t quite know their role within the side, whereas this side, we’re a very settled unit, we’re been together for about 2 years now and Andy Flower and Andy Strauss and we’ve got to know each other really well. We’ve got to a plan which we didn’t just come about, we thought through long and hard about it to get to where we were, and that planning didn’t just happen in the first November when we turned up, it was a year in the making, and I think we’re a far more settled side when we went this time to Australia, and probably against Australia last time, they were probably a better side as well, so there’s probably a mixture, a little bit of both sides improving and a little bit of one side going down while we played better

H: So physically and technically there’s a lot of preparation, but for something like a test match which lasts 5 days, or even a really long innings, like yourself had several times, how do you mentally prepare for that?

A: I’m not saying that you can prepare yourself that you’re going to bat for a long time. You can prepare yourself to make sure the training you do leading up to the test match, that you’re in a good frame of mind and you’re feeling confident. You know your game plan – I think that’s the most important thing. You see a wicket and you think, this shot’s going to be really dangerous on this wicket, this shot I can’t play, this shot’s going to be my scoring shots and if you find that method out, and that’s a good method for that wicket and you can stick to it for a long period of time, that’s how you mentally have that for long periods of time, but you’ve got to be rigid and very disciplined to do that. There’s no point me trying to bat like KP for example. He’s a totally different player to me and if he tried to bat like me, it wouldn’t work for him either, so you’ve got to be true to yourself and stick with that mental game plan, which you’d have thought about the whole time. An Adelaide wicket will be different to a Perth wicket, so you’ve got to change your game for that

H: So that’s the mental side of it. Physically, how do you prepare all year round? What would be a typical training day be?

A: It depends really, it depends. If you’re on tour, you hit the really physical part of it, you’re not playing so much cricket so it’s a good time to get in the gym, continue the gym work. You’ll train in the morning but then you can go and relax in the afternoon. But when the cricket starts, it’s more about just recovering so you’re good for the next day. At the moment, I’ve just come back from tour. My training will start beginning of Feb, get back in the gym and start that running again, and build up slowly so that when I come to middle of May where the test match starts again, I’m in as good a physical shape as I can be, so that I can bat for a long period of time

H: OK, we have some more questions about the upcoming tests against India and stuff later on, because people have been sending in loads and loads of questions. More than 500 questions we’ve had in already for Ali. Do keep them coming in as well, use that box on your screen or use Twitter which is at #questions4cook with the number 4. You’re the new face of Buxton Mineral Water of course. Tell us why the partnership’s important to you?

A: It’s a good thing for me, they’re part of England cricket as well, they sponsor our water so in the middle when we’re drinking the water, and for me to be associated with a very British brand, I’m very patriotic and I think that they’re part of the Royals, Buxton’s a tiny little village, with my farming background I just think it fits really nicely and I think we have the same kind of Englishness about ourselves and I think I suit them and hopefully they suit me

H: Tell us to do a little bit with water, but the opposite. There’s the story about you having the driest hands in the England team and how the bowlers would use your hands to get the reverse swing. Tell us a little bit about that

A: I don’t sweat a huge amount, so the lads say they’re in trouble if I start sweating because they’ll be sweating huge amounts, because I don’t really sweat that much. So for a reverse swing to work, or for pretty much any swing to work, you’ve got to keep the ball as dry as you can and especially reverse swings, so I’m now the chief ball shine, along with Jimmy so we don’t let anyone else touch it unless they’re fielding the ball and it’ll come straight to Maddy who’ll through it to me, and then I’ll get to work it because we all know that any bit of moisture on it will stop it reverse swinging and on flat wickets the ball’s 30 or 40 overs old, so if it’s not going to eventually swing, we’ve got to make it do something else, or else it’s too easy for batting. So I had the job of just shining and shining the ball for however many hours it takes. It’s slightly repetitive, but one of the advantages of having dry hands

H: Does it become a bit of a routine of a winning side though, the fact that it now happens after every ball?

A: Yes. The lads now know they’re not allowed to touch the ball. They either throw it to me, Jimmy or Maddy, Prior, there are no ifs and buts about it, if anyone else shines it they get shouted at. It’s pretty much the way it is. It’s worked well for the last year and a half and I hope to continue

H: That’s fascinating. It’s certainly worked so far. Now, don’t go anywhere, coming up next all your questions will be answered live on the show

Break

H: Hi there. If you’ve just joined us, I’m talking with England legend Alastair Cook. You’ve been sending your questions into him and like I said before, over 500 questions. Do keep them coming in, we’re going to get through as many as we possibly can, let’s see if we can get up to 1000, and we’ll get through, like I said, as many as Alastair possibly can in the next few minutes. OK, Alastair, let’s start off with Manhooda who’s sent in a question; “What changes did you make to your batting in preparations for this Ashes tour?”

A: Not a huge amount. Obviously it was quite well documented how my technique has changed over the last year. After the Ashes series in 2009 I thought I could try and change my techniques, I worked really hard at gooching to try and improve. I think it improved certain areas and probably weakened other areas. So I went back a little bit, just before the Oval test match against Pakistan, to what I had been doing before that

H: Just doing your back lift?

A: Yes, a little bit of back lift and a little bit of foot movements, so I went back to probably what I started with when I first started playing test cricket so, I actually didn’t change technically for Australia. I took lighter bats with me, just an ounce or so lighter, because the ball tends to bounce a bit more, and I felt that it probably would help me, so technically not a huge amount, but I probably used a lot better bat than I would have done in the sub-continent where the ball doesn’t come up to your head as much

H: OK. Second question coming up. This is from Beder Perrin who says; “I’m 10, Australian and growing up in England”. Oh dear. Sorry Beder! He or she says “I love cricket. Was Australia’s performance really as bad as it looked on the TV?”

A: No, I think, I think as quickly as the English media do, as soon as we play well it has to be Australia playing badly and I think we didn’t let them play well. I think the pressure that our bowlers especially put on them as a bowling unit put them under huge amounts of pressure. They weren’t going anywhere for long periods of time and eventually after that pressure built and built up, they felt under pressure and played poor shots, so I think they weren’t as bas as bad as people said they were. I think, without blowing our own trumpet, we’re giving ourselves a little bit of credit and saying we played that well ourselves and put them under that pressure

H: Patrick Mount asks; “Morale around the camp seemed to be high all tour. Was that the big difference between this Ashes series and ’06, ’07?”

A: It always helps when you’re playing cricket. Morale is first and foremost, if you’re losing it’s very hard to keep and to be happy the whole time so it pretty much comes from winning, but having said that we’ve got a genuine team spirit whether we win or lose at the moment. We’ve pretty much got the same guys at the nucleus of the side for the last year or so, got to know each other really well and enjoy each other’s company and I think those celebrations at the end, are proper, meaningful celebrations and show our team spirit is genuine, I think and does help when you win, but you only have to look at Swanny on the ECB website to see that, we did have a lot of fun out there

H: It certainly seems to be like that and a lot of people have been asking about the social media. In fact Sporting Wombles AFC asks the question; “What do you think of people using social media, like the Swanny video diary or KP’s little outburst last year. Is it a good thing? What are the ECB rules on it?

A: I think the rules are…I think they’re player enforced. They can’t be…you can’t give away any information from inside the dressing room to it, but you can say pretty much what you want as long as it’s not derogatory to the England team so I think that’s pretty much the rules. I think it gives the fans another insight into the England team, which 99% of the time is beneficial. I think the more exposure you get and the more people can see another side to us they get more interested and hopefully they’ll support us. I think it will show hopefully that we are a good bunch of lads, just trying to play. I think it shows how desperate we were to do well and hopefully that shows on there

H: And obviously from the Swanny video diary, is he the joker in the pack? In the dressing room is he the one that cracks the most gags?

A: Well, he definitely cracks the most jokes because he’s the loudest and his jokes tend to be above everyone else, but we’ve got a very friendly dressing room. Jimmy is a little side kick and very funny, but then you’ve got other people like Belly, who’s a practical joker, in a good sense of the word. The dressing room is full of totally different characters and it couldn’t be a better place to be in, especially when you’re winning

H: Staying on the subject of jokes, Barry sent in; “As short leg you must hear a lot of banter that flies around between the batsmen. What’s the best piece of sledging you’ve heard or dished out yourself, whilst under the helmet?”

A: I need to get a few lines in there, so I tend to forget most of them. Most of them aren’t repeatable on a family show! Unfortunately we’re not as clever as we think and most of it’s quite rude and crude and not as exciting as people make it out to be, but it is intense. There are some moments, especially when it gets close and heated and you can cross the line, but all you’re trying to do is put batters off, and if it works 1 time out of 10 you’ve done your job

H: And from the other point of view when you’re batting, how does it work if someone really…if a bowler comes and really gets in your face? What’s the best way to react to that?

A: It depends. Other people would look for a contest – I think KP really enjoys that, the extra battle spurs him on, but I go the other way and just totally ignore it. Someone like Trotty as well, he and I are really quite similar. He marks his guard. I heard how many times he does it and he’s just trying to create his bubble. If someone’s sledging him, he wouldn’t really care, because he really wouldn’t hear it, he’s trying to count how many times he’s got to scratch his line so… but there’s 2 different ways of doing it. I would ignore it. All they’re trying to do is put you off and trying to force you to make a mistake

H: OK. Next question comes from Floyd and he asks; “Who are the top 5 bowlers you’ve ever faced and the top 5 batsmen you’ve played with?”

A: Yeah, 4. Best batters are Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar and….they’re the top 3 of our generation by a long way I think

H: Interesting. None of your England team mates in the bowling

A: I don’t face them very often though, do I?

H: Alright, we believe you! OK, another one. This one comes from Aaron. He says; “You have 16 centuries already. Somewhere in the back of your mind, do you hope that you’re going to surpass Boycott, Cowdrey and Hammond’s record of 22?”

A: I’d like to! Especially knock Boycott off there! You don’t want to get carried away, you don’t want to get too far away, but I think Strauss will get there first to be honest with you

H: Yeah? What about Sachin? Do you ever compare yourself with other current players?

A: No, I don’t compare myself. His record is exceptional, extraordinary

H: Yours isn’t too bad, mind!

A: Yes I know, but to score – he’s almost got international 100’s which is incredible. The man’s a genius and probably one of his best talents being his longevity. He started when he was 16 and now he’s 38 or something, so incredible, incredible player and I think we’ve got him this summer so hopefully he doesn’t score too many runs against us

H: Well, it will certainly be interesting to see the 2 of you in the same game. Mr. Q has sent in a question; “I’ve noticed that you have a routine celebration whenever you score 100. You punch the air and then tap your ear. What’s the meaning behind that?”

A: I’ve got an itchy ear; I’ve had one for years

H: That’s not really true, is it?

A: No, it’s not really true. It’s a message, I’ve done it for a few years now I think, especially after Pakistan when I hadn’t scored 100 for a while and under that pressure I think people were noticing it more and trying to draw reasons, but it’s just a message, but unfortunately I can’t tell you what it is

H: Who’s it too?

A: I can’t tell you, unfortunately no. It’s become a little bit of a storm for no apparent reason. I probably should be less stubborn and tell people, but it’s quite nice that I know and no one else does

H: Absolutely. And Nicholas Anelka has the same sort of thing when he scores a goal and never tells anyone. Nick Thomson has sent in a question; “How disappointed are you not to feature in the current one day T20 series and do you feel you have an international future in the shorter forms of the game?”

A: I definitely do, especially in the one day games. I think Strauss and I probably do a very similar role at the top of the order and obviously he’s captain, so he will take a while to shift. But as I say, my record’s not too bad, and I’ve definitely improved over the last few days for Essex and those 3 games in Bangladesh where I captained in one day games and I scored some runs out there as well, so I definitely feel I can play for England. It is frustrating not being in there

H: Do you feel a bit hard done by at the moment?

A: No. Not really. I think, I desperately want to be involved, but a bit like the Ashes, England have been planning for the World Cup for a while now and they’ve had their ideas of who they wanted. Me and Strauss are quite similar so I wouldn’t be expecting to be in this World Cup but I definitely think when I play well I can be in that one day side and score runs at the top as well

H: A question now from Mark who says; “England seems to have a good test side, but does it the same depth in the one day side?” I think we’ll find out with the World Cup coming up, don’t we?

A: The last few years our one day cricket’s gone through the roof, especially under Andy Flower and Andy Strauss and I think we’ve won in the last few series…I don’t want to misquote what we’ve done, but I definitely think that both our rankings for the test and one-dayers have gone up and I do think there’s a strength and depth. There are pretty much the same players in both now. There’s only me and Monty who came home from the test team. Sorry Matt Prior did as well, but there’s pretty much the same squad, and that strength and depth of the bowlers. Broady’s getting back fit again, and Chris Tremlett who came in and Tim Bresnan were exceptional and to have that 6 or 7, almost 8 now, first rate, first class fast bowlers is a good position to be in and that competition for places, will only hopefully improve the standard of everyone, because they know if they play badly… the batters as well, there’s some good guys that have come in

H: Chris Tremlett got some headlines as well in the T20 games. Tell us a little bit about him?

A: I don’t know…I’ve played a couple of Lions games with him this year. He seems a very impressive player. He doesn’t seem like a guy who would get too carried away with what he’s just done. I think you can tell when people are ready to play, who will play international cricket and will succeed and he’s one of those characters who will. He’s got a long way to go, as a 21 year bowler he will know that, but he’s very skillful and as I say, he’s bowled a huge amount of overs for Warwickshire over the last 2 years, almost carried their attack so he’s got a huge England future and I was very impressed with the way conducted himself in those Lions games, so I think we’ll see him in the England shirt sooner again, and I think he’ll be around for a long time

H: He hit an absolutely enormous six off Brett Lee as well

A: Yes, I did see that. You never know what might have happened

H: Talking of the T20, Vijay Anand asks; “Do you think the 20 over form of the game is spoiling the rich heritage of technically correct batsmen like yourself, or do you think it gives batsmen more chance of showing the breadth of their skills?”

A: Without a doubt, the breadth of their skills. I think it’s now a skill in itself, the switch between the 2 games. I think one of the challenges as a batman, at the weekend I was playing test matches, to now playing Twenty20, but I think the Twenty20 crew has just improved the standard of cricket. The fielding’s gone through the roof and not only in one day cricket now, in test matches and bowlers having to think on their feet with new balls, because batters are thinking. It’s a new revolution again. Who’d have thought that the deal scoop would have been in a year ago and now you almost have to play it with the way the bowlers are bowling, so it’s becoming this…new shots are playing, bowlers have got the slow shot bounce and I think it’s just improving cricket so…it’ll come into test cricket. Scoring rates in test cricket have gone up so it’s made it more exciting so it’s made it good for the game and if it keeps being marketed well, there’s no reason why they can’t run along side each other

H: But players like Geoffrey Boycott and Tony Gregg argue that it’s actually taking away from the skills of the batsmen in the test form of the game aren’t they?

A: It’s taken a different skill. You’re right, people won’t bat all day for an 80, which happened 20, 30 years ago, and 220 in a day’s test cricket 20 years ago seems a good score, and I think it’s for the good of the game it’s moved forward. Sides are moving 300, 350 and it is more exciting. Maybe batters are becoming less defensive because of it and the skill of batting for a draw is less likely and that’s certainly a skill that we need to keep working on because we never know when you need it, and the England side last year needed it quite a lot. We needed it in Cardiff and a couple of games in South Africa so it’s still there, but it’s probably an area which we can keep working on, yes

H: OK. Question coming in from Vicky during the show; “What’s your message for cricketers who are coming up the ranks now, maybe young cricketers who are training?”

A: The biggest one is to keep enjoying it. There’s a lot of pressures when you keep going up and you think, I’ve got to make this squad, if I don’t make this squad I’ll never play. You’ve got to not think like that. I missed out England under-17 age group, so I didn’t make it. I was disappointed at the time, but if you keep believing, keep practicing as hard as you can, you can get your rewards, and it’s certainly a great game to persevere with because you can develop at a late stage and people like Mike Hussey made his debut at 30, and what a great player he’s turned out to be, so keep working hard, don’t look too far ahead, don’t think I have to be playing for a team at 20, you might be playing at 24 and have a great career ahead, so don’t look too far ahead and most importantly, enjoy it

H: OK. A bit of fun to finish up with, Julius Winskill has sent in a question saying; “Which of the England squad is best with the ladies?”

A: Good question! Probably Stuart Broad. He’s got the school boy looks, hasn’t he, the pop star looks, and he likes to tell everyone he’s probably the best with the ladies and the young women do kind of swing for him, so yeah. Probably him.

H: Is that right? OK, and Vicky Fiddler sent one in as well saying; “Swannie says you run like Woody from Toy Story. When did that first come about and do you agree?”

A: Well he’s got a chin like Bruce Forsythe so we’re not all perfect! I think because I run with those pads on most of the day it has affected my running so, I’m probably not the most athletic of runners, but just ask Swannie who’s quicker and who can run for a longer period of time

H: OK! Ali, thank you so much for coming in, it’s been an absolute pleasure talking to you. Congratulations for everything you’ve achieved as well and good luck for the next test series against India and then South Africa next year as well, it should be exciting. Thanks a lot

A: Thank you

H: We have run out of time, my thanks to you for watching and of course to Ashes hero Alastair Cook for talking to us. If you do want to find out more about what makes Buxton Mineral Water so special then go to buxtonwater.co.uk, but from us, myself and Ali Cook, it’s goodbye.